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The type of finance you choose matters

When you’re desperately keen to buy, start or grow a business, you may feel like any finance will do. Don’t fall into that trap. Choosing the wrong type of finance could break your business later, or severely hamstring it.

Each finance type has its own pros and cons. Use this guide to learn about them. Ask which suits your business, and you as a person – because that matters too.

Begging, borrowing, and bootstrapping

Some businesses don’t require a lot of money or capital at the outset. For example, you might only need a laptop and an internet connection if you’re offering a home-based service like proofreading or bookkeeping.

Other businesses start out really small, with minimal money, and build slowly. This is often called bootstrapping. In these cases, it’s common for owners to cobble together their own finance through personal savings, personal loans, or taking extra shifts at their day job. Even if you’re doing that, it’s worth knowing about the types of finance out there. You may just need an extra injection of cash down the road to get the business truly humming.

Chapter 5, How to get a business loan

A business loan is one of the most common ways to finance a business. Learn how they work and how to get one.